What did your ancestors earn?

Do you know the wages your ancestor earned and how many hours did they need to work to get these wages?

Two books that may give you answers to these questions are:-

• 1) The Economy of Kent 1640-1914 edited by Alan Armstrong as part of the Kent History project published jointly by the Boydell Press and the Kent County Council in 1995. ISSN 1352805X.
• 2) An Economic History of the British Building Industry 1815-1970 by C G Powell published by The Architectural Press Ltd in 1980. ISBN 085139194X

C G Powell says 'One of the problems of understanding of wages is hindered by variation from place to place and time to time depending on local labour market and work load'

A few examples are:-

1867 National average 7d per hour; 30/- to 32/- per week for skilled adults; 12/- to 25/- per week for labourers and 5/- for boys and lads. This is for 10-hour days that's five and half days per week.

By 1920 labourers earnt 16/8d for an 8-hour day. The national uniformity average was 46 hours per week.

You can meet some of the people behind NWKFHS at the Really Useful Show on the 17-18 November 2023 www.fhf-reallyuseful.com